COLUMBUS, OH – Matt Carson’s two-run homer in the seventh inning ended up being the difference as the Columbus Clippers (15-15) took the second game of their four-game series 5-3 against the Rochester Red Wings (16-14) Tuesday night at Huntington Park.

Carson’s home run was proceeded by a RBI double off the bat of Giovanny Urshela that gave the Clippers their first lead of the game.

For some of you, the name Kyle Davies (1-0, 2.57) might spark a vague recollection, unless you follow the Indians Double-A affiliate in Akron. Just in case you don’t, here’s a quick recap: he pitched parts of seven years in the majors with the Atlanta Braves and the Kansas City Royals. His last major league appearance was with the Royals on July 22, 2011.

Tuesday night’s game marked the first appearance for Davies above the Double-A level since September 4th of that same year because shoulder surgery took him out of action in 2012.

Tuesday night, he took another step on the road to recovery. He tossed seven innings, allowed two runs, three hits, a walk and two strikeouts.

After a rough second inning, he faced the minimum in each inning. Davies retired ten straight hitters until a one-out single by Eric Farris in the sixth. Afterwards, he coaxed a double play and retired the side in order in the seventh to finish his night.

“He’s been around. He’s pitched in the big leagues. He’s got some experience and it showed tonight. He went out there and really threw the ball well and located well,” Tremie said. “You could tell he’s got some experience on the mound. It was really good to see.”

Tremie turned to his bullpen in the eighth. Blake Wood got the initial nod, but loaded the bases with two outs. Scott Barnes replaced Wood, and immediately walked his first batter, allowing a run to score. He started out behind two balls to the next batter, Chris Parmelee, which prompted a visit from Tremie himself, but recovered to strike him out and end the threat.

Vinny Pestano pitched the ninth and allowed a pair of one-out singles, but got Doug Bernier to fly out, and then struck out left-handed pinch hitter Brad Nelson to preserve the win and earn his second save in three chances.

Rochester opened the scoring on Davies in the second. After walking the leadoff man and a double high of the wall in right, Deibinson Romero hit a two-run single to left to put the Red Wings on the board.

The Clippers used the help of some bad defense to produce their first run. With two on and one out in the bottom of the third, Jesus Aguilar hit a sharp, but playable grounder to short that bounced off the glove of Doug Bernier, and allowed Tim Fedroff to score from second.

Rochester starter Kris Johnson kept the Clippers in check, but ran into trouble with two outs in the sixth. It started innocently enough with a Matt Carson walk. But the inning extended with a single by Roberto Perez, who had been mired in a mini-slump since his 13-game hit streak that started the season. Audy Ciriaco drove in the tying run with a double to left.

“I think one of the biggest hits of the game was Ciriaco’s base hit to get us back to a tie,” Tremie said. “The great thing about the at-bat was that he laid off a cutter in or a slider in for ball one and a couple of change-ups down and out of the zone is what it looked like. On 3-2 he got a fastball and hit it.”

Matt Guerrier replaced Johnson after he walked Tim Fedroff to load the bases. Guerrier coaxed a fly ball from Justin Sellers to end the threat, but also gave up the three runs in the seventh and took the loss.

In the seven games since his 13-game hit streak that covered most of April, Roberto Perez has batted just .182. Coming in to Tuesday night’s game, Perez is 2 for his last 16. On the upside, he’s got a home run and five runs driven in over the course of that span.

Fedroff extended his on-base streak to 21 in the first inning with a leadoff single to center.

The Clippers and Rochester meet on Wednesday night for the third of their four-game series. Trevor Bauer (3-0, 1.10) looks to continue his domination of the International League. As of Tuesday night, he is second in the league in ERA behind Rochester’s Yohan Pino (0.84 in 32 innings), who is not scheduled to pitch in the series.

In his last start, Bauer pitched seven shutout innings in Durham allowing six hits, two walks and striking out three.

Rochester will counter with Trevor May (1-2, 4.44), who is making his sixth start of the season.

TRANSACTIONS: Cleveland recalled SP Josh Tomlin to start Tuesday night’s game against Minnesota… After injuring his leg in Monday night’s game while running the bases, INF Ryan Rohlinger was placed on the 7-Day Disabled List… Kyle Davis was transferred from Double-A Akron to Columbus to start Tuesday night’s game against Rochester in place of Josh Tomlin… INF Todd Hankins was transferred from Class A-Advanced Carolina to Columbus to take the spot left open by Rohlinger.

Michael Rich is a senior majoring in Communications at The Ohio State University.

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